Ask Your Legislators to Support the 2007-2008 Massachusetts AFL-CIO Legislative Agenda
Deadline to Co-Sponsor is January 22, 2007

We must continue building upon the momentum and organization we developed during the 2006 elections and remain active to ensure that working people are treated fairly in the years pursuant to elections and that elected officials hear from us as their constituents. We must hold elected officials accountable to working people in this Commonwealth by asking them to support us when it counts. All we have ever asked in the labor movement is to be treated fairly and treated justly in return for our labor.

The Massachusetts AFL-CIO Legislative Agenda for 2007-2008 includes the bills listed below. State Representatives and State Senators can show their support for working families by signing on to co-sponsor these pieces of legislation before the deadline, which is Monday January 22, 2007. By using this website you can quickly and easily tell your State Representative and State Senator that you would appreciate if they showed their support for these bills by contacting the lead sponsor and signing on as a co-sponsor. Let your voice be heard. Tell your legislators to co-sponsor these bills:

SENATE Bills
- Define Member Contribution – Senator Steven Tolman (SD 418)
Raise to $45,000 the salary of public employees prior to their paying the 2% extra towards their pension and then indexing this figure to inflation.

- Fair Wage for Large Employers – Senator Marc Pacheco (SD 43)
This legislation will establish a minimum wage of $10.50 per hour for employers with stores over 75,000 square feet and over 150 employees per store.

- Majority Authorization – Senator Robert O’Leary (SD 507)
Establishes recognition of a union under Chapter 150E and 150A if a majority of employees sign cards, petitions or other written evidence in support of said union.

- Minimum Fair Wages and Restoring Overtime – Senator John Hart (SD 156)
Restores overtime pay eligibility to those workers who had it stripped from them as a result of the current presidential administration’s new overtime regulations.

- Plant Relocation – Senator Marc Pacheco (SD 894)
Requires companies that close plants in Massachusetts to compensate their employees.

- Protecting Employees – Senator Marc Pacheco (SD 42)
Requires contractors to hire its workforce from existing worker pool when state services are privatized.

- Regulating Outsourcing – Senator John Hart (SD 173)
Regulate the Commonwealth’s contracting with companies that outsource state work. SD 173

- Worker Privacy Protection Act – Senator Edward Augustus (SD 387)
Employers can force workers to attend meetings to listen to their personal beliefs on politics, religion, and unions, and may fire those employees who refuse to attend. This legislation will prohibit mandatory attendance at these meetings and bar disciplinary action for not attending.

HOUSE Bills
- Majority Authorization – Representative Robert DeLeo (HD 2531)
Establishes recognition of a union under Chapter 150E and 150A if a majority of employees sign cards, petitions or other written evidence in support of said union.

- Proper Expenditure of and Accounting for State Funds – Representative Martin Walsh (HD 633)
Ensures proper expenditures of and accounting for monies appropriated, spent, reimbursed, or granted by the Commonwealth for the purchase of foods and services, the performance of public works, or the provision of services on behalf of the Commonwealth.

- To Ensure Quality Appointments – Representative Robert Koczera (HD 1172)
Provides for the consent of the Governor’s Council for the appointments to the Civil Service and Labor Relation Commission.

- Workers Compensation – Representative Martin Walsh (HD 653)
Would restore the 2/3 benefit paid to injured workers in the Commonwealth as well as increases payments to medical providers to ensure treatment of injured workers.

- Worker Privacy Protection Act – Representative Robert Spellane (HD 1737)
Employers can force workers to attend meetings to listen to their personal beliefs on politics, religion, and unions, and may fire those employees who refuse to attend. This legislation will prohibit mandatory attendance at these meetings and bar disciplinary action for not attending.